Andrew Bennett reports:
"Yaaaaaaaaahhh!" I think that's how you should spell it. The sound a crowd makes when the opposing team misses a last-minute hotly-disputed penalty is distinctly different from the noise it makes when its own team scores, which is more of a "Yeeeeaaaaaaaaahhh!" The latter is derived from the word 'yes' while the former is more instinctive, a yell of pure joy that justice has prevailed, together with a degree of taunting directed at the opposition. It should not, of course, be confused with the straightforward mocking "Aaaaahh!" when the opposing number 9 blasts a free-kick into the car park, or the angry, snarling "Aaaarrrggghhh!" when their clogger of a centre-back kicks your top scorer into Row C.
Anyway, "Yaaaaaaaaahhh!" was the last abiding memory of a rousing Easter Monday spectacular against Mansfield, which turned out to be a much more keenly fought and eventful contest than anyone might have expected between the teams placed eighth and thirteenth in the table. But I'm getting ahead of myself here…
A cool, cloudy Bank Holiday afternoon greeted the amber hordes, still smarting from the memory of a dismal, tiring and expensive trip to Gateshead on the Saturday to witness a second consecutive display of underachievement and apathy from their heroes. Martin Ling had been unequivocal in his criticism of his charges; now would we see a reaction?
The boss man rang the changes again, dropping Aiden Palmer and Calum Willock in favour of Josh Coulson and Lee Phillips, with Rory McAuley dropping back to defence to replace the injured Kevin Roberts and Jai Reason taking his place in midfield. The reinstatement of Coulson meant that Dave Partridge was moved again to left-back, a puzzling move in that he is clearly not at his best in that position - he just does not have the pace - and as he is already under contract for next season, it surely made sense to instead afford Palmer the chance to state his own case for retention before the end of term. But hey, I'm not the one with the coaching badges.
Danny Potter made a welcome return to the bench against a Mansfield Town side which looks like falling just short of the playoffs, as evidenced by a fairly meagre turnout from Notts in the South Stand. Former U Jon Challinor lined up in their midfield with another face amongst the subs in the form of Matt Somner. We were not to be entertained, however, by Robert Duffy today.
The party-pooping Stags won the toss and decided to make the U's attack the NRE in the first half, lining up in a like-for-like 4-4-2 formation spearheaded by the hulking Kyle Perry and Blair Sturrock. From the start it was apparent that the United players had reacted positively to Saturday, looking energetic, determined and motivated, none of which had applied at Gateshead.
Simon Russell, in tormenting mood on the left, created the team's first chance on 3, whipping a cross to the far post where Scott Neilson headed back into the six-yard box where the lurking Phillips was narrowly beaten to the ball by keeper Alan Marriott. Brian Saah was alert to block a shot from Gary Silk a couple of minutes later, but the hosts enjoyed the better of the early stages, keeping their shape well with both wide men staying somewhere near the flanks for a change.
There was a stoppage on 11 when Partridge was involved in an aerial collision with Challinor on halfway, but the tough Welshman was up again after a couple of minutes, and Challinor's next cross set up a decent chance for Jake Speight in his nasty luminous yellow boots, but he could not convert at the far post.
United hit back with a superb defence-splitting ball from Reason which sent Russell scampering through, but he mysteriously hesitated when the moment came to shoot and it was blocked away for a corner. Coulson met Reason's set piece at the far post but Marriott intercepted his header into the six-yard box, then blocked Neilson's shot from the second flag-kick.
The teams were fairly evenly matched, however, and Simon Brown was forced to tip a deflected Andy Burgess cross over his bar on 20, while a minute later Marriott stopped another Neilson effort. Then Challinor fired wide from distance; but the deadlock was broken on 25.
Michael Brough fouled Crow out on the right, United loaded the box, and Reason's free-kick found Coulson rising well above everyone else as if on a gigantic pogo stick to power a tremendous header home for his second goal of the season. Take a bow, son: 1-0.
The amber army had barely had any time to celebrate, however, when Mansfield equalised almost immediately. Burgess' attempt at a through ball bounced off McAuley's foot and fell perfectly for Speight to burst between the United right-back and Coulson and celebrate his first start since 6th February with a brilliant precision chip past Brown and into the top left corner from the edge of the box. Hideous boots, beautiful finish: 1-1.
The status quo restored, United were not about to let that setback set them rocking all over the pitch, and they continued to press and probe, and there was a blow for the visitors on the half hour when centre-back Brough sustained a shoulder injury when his own keeper jumped over (or rather through) him to claim a cross. Midfielder Kyle Nix came on to replace him, with Andrew Nicholas moving to the middle of defence and Burgess dropping back to left-back.
It made no difference to the pattern of the game, two well-matched teams still picking at each other, although there was another injury stoppage on 37 when Perry went down in the latest round of his running battle with Saah, albeit there was no foul involved.
The visitors repelled another couple of corners, then on 42 a thrilling run from Russell culminated in a decent long-range strike which flew just past the far post. Coulson was next in line for treatment when Reason flattened him in his enthusiasm to head the ball first, but Partridge was first into the book just before the break for an unsubtle challenge on Speight.
Speight followed up with an unconvincing penalty appeal when he fell over in the box, and final goal attempt of the half came in added time from Crow when Russell's cross initially fell over his head, but his clever turn and chip found the top of the bar.
The amber hordes were appreciative of a spirited first 45 from the U's, which had gone some way to atoning for the sins of their previous two matches, although tinged with disappointment that they had not managed to retain their lead for more than thirty seconds. There were a lot more fun and games to come in part two.
The sun began to attempt to barge its way through the crowd of clouds as the teams restarted unchanged. Speight fizzed a shot wide from distance on 47, while Russell also missed the target a couple of minutes later, but on 50 United were back in front.
Russell was the instigator with a perceptive ball slid through to send Crow flying down the left; he cut inside and curled what looked like a shot goalward from an acute angle, and there was Phillips barging through the middle like a runaway bulldozer to bundle it home with his head from a couple of yards out to double his tally for the season. 2-1.
Mansfield made a striking change, introducing Louis Briscoe for Sturrock, and this time the U's managed to hold on to their lead for all of six minutes. There was a degree of fortune in their second equaliser: a corner was cleared to Nix in the 'D', he sent a bouncing, hopeful shot-cum-pass back into the box, and when Perry threw himself at it but missed, Brown was sufficiently confused to allow the ball to hop gaily past him like an Easter bunny heading for its burrow and into the net. Oh, myxomatosis: 2-2.
Speight fired wide for the visitors on 57, then disaster struck for the hosts when he went on a run down the right, the ponderous Partridge could not keep pace with him and his clumsy barge brought the colourfully-booted wide man down. The makeshift left-back saw a card the colour of Speight's footwear for the second time that day, followed by one the same colour as Mr Ling's face should have been at selecting him there in the first place: off.
Aiden Palmer was introduced for the sacrificial Neilson and United adopted a 4-3-2 formation, the sub immediately looking more confident and at home in his chosen position. Perry was next into the book for a foul on Saah, the two still slugging it out, while just after the hour the linesman on the Main Stand side missed an obvious offside to allow Briscoe to break clear down the right, but Speight was unable to connect with his low cross with the goal at his mercy.
To United's credit, there was no great change in the pattern of the match as everyone worked hard to match the eleven men of Mansfield. They even found time for a decent move or two of their own, Palmer marginally offside from a Russell ball down the left, while Luke Foster nodded a Briscoe cross wide for the Stags on 73.
Three minutes later Jon Shaw replaced Speight as the visitors went for the kill. Crow fired over following another nice passing move from the U's on 78, then Brown safely stopped a shot from Burgess as the minutes seemed to tick by slower and slower.
There was further danger on 84 when Burgess' hoisted through ball was almost lobbed into the net by Nix, but Brown pulled off his best star-jumping Schmeichel impression to claw it from the sky. Then Gary Mills met a cross from the right with a scudding shot which was just deflected wide by Paul Carden.
Certain Mansfield players seemed to have difficulty in keeping their feet, particularly when they were near the United penalty area with a home defender close behind them, and they were awarded a series of soft free-kicks in the closing minutes. Mills hammered one such set piece over the top on 88, but with added time ticking round, the drama shifted to the other end of the pitch.
Good work by Crow on the left culminated in a cross towards Phillips in the box, Challinor challenged clumsily for the bouncing ball and instead made contact with Phillips, felling him for a penalty. JC was booked, Crow stepped up and placed the spot-kick carefully under Marriott's dive and into the bottom left corner. 3-2!
Crow left the Mansfield supporters in no doubt as to who was, er, Da Man after an afternoon of taunts about his less than sylph-like figure. It's all muscle, I'm sure. Another soft free-kick for the visitors from Nix went sailing into the car park, while Burgess punted one into the wall, and Antonio Murray was introduced well into stoppage time to run the clock down in place of the hard-working Phillips. But the drama was by no means over.
In the 95th minute a ball into a crowded United box found a Stags head but Brown easily gathered as it was bouncing wide. Meanwhile, however, Saah and Perry were having a pushing and pulling match as they tried to regain their feet to resume play, ref Burt saw only the last phase of their tussle and awarded the harshest of penalties against the U's number five, booking him in the process.
Shaw stepped up to take it, and with cool, deliberate precision, slid it low and wide of the left-hand post. Yaaaaaaaaahhh. McAuley joined in the crowd's exultant ululation and landed his name in the ref's book for his troubles.
It had been a breathless end to an unexpectedly thrilling game, and in the end justice was done. Credit to the United team which produced a pleasingly positive response to their recent underperformances, particularly for a rare win from a man short, against decent, stubborn opposition. This is the spirit we want to see from our team, one that reflects the passion of the supporters, and with plenty of quality on show as well, we might, just might, be able to look forward to next season with some degree of optimism. Four games to go: keep it up. Yeah?
Statto Corner
The last time United won a match with ten men versus eleven was on 11th October 2008, when Lee McEvilly's dismissal did not prevent them from securing a 1-0 home victory over Weymouth; Jon Challinor scored the winner. It was the second time they had achieved that feat in 2008, after a 2-1 win at Halifax in February when Mark Peters saw red.
In all the U's ten have beaten an opposing eleven on sixteen occasions since 1970, and once they did it with nine, defeating Lincoln City 1-0 at Sincil Bank on 17th October 1970 despite the late dismissals of both Colin Meldrum and Peter Leggett, the club's first ever sendings off in the Football League.
The legendary Tom Finney is the club's most red-carded player with five in two spells at the Abbey. His second term in amber'n'black was notable in that United won all three matches in which he was sent off, in the space of eleven weeks between late November 1985 and early February 1986, the ten men beating Crewe 1-0 away, Hereford 4-0 and Wrexham 4-3 at home.
Since that above-mentioned win over Weymouth, United had lost four and drawn two of the six matches in which they finished with ten against eleven. By way of contrast, they have lost three times this season to teams which finished with one man less than them: Barrow (0-2) in August, Luton (3-4) in September and Salisbury (1-2) in the FA Trophy in February.
Dave Partridge is the fourth United player to be sent off this season, after Wayne Hatswell (home to Stevenage), Brian Saah (away to Stevenage) and Antonio Murray (home to Wimbledon). Seven players have been dismissed against the U's this term. Neither tally is a record; the highest number of United men red-carded in a season is nine, in 2006-07, while for the opposition, last term's count of eleven was an all-time high.
United have lost once to a team with nine men, albeit they finished with only ten on the field themselves: Mansfield, who won 2-1 at the Abbey on 27th September 2003. Rhys Day and Iyseden Christie saw red for the Stags and Dave Kitson received an early bath for the U's.
United have never lost to nine men with a full team, but they notoriously failed to beat eight just after Christmas 1999 when they drew 0-0 at home to Cardiff despite the dismissals of Russell Perrett, Craig Middleton and Lee Phillips (no, not that one).
Danny Crow has now converted seven penalties out of seven for the U's. That equals the perfect record of Steve Massey in the 1985-86 season; no other United man has scored so many without missing since 1970. Scott Rendell scored six without failing from the spot. Top penalty takers who missed just one in their Abbey career are Alan Biley (13 scored), Steve Butler (10) and Chris Holroyd and John Collins (7 each).
Simon Brown has now conceded only one penalty of the three he has conceded, a percentage unbeaten by any U's keeper; obviously the more spot-kicks a goalminder faces, the more likely it is that his average will decline. Scott Howie (two saved, two conceded) and Shane Herbert (one each) are next highest on the list.
The U's have now won five consecutive home matches. Remarkably, they had not previously achieved that feat during one season since the 1998-99 promotion season, beating Barnet 3-2 on 7th November 1998 then defeating Darlington, Plymouth, Rotherham, Torquay, Chester and Carlisle until the run was halted by a goalless draw with Scunthorpe… after which they won three more.
United did win five home games in a row spread over the last three matches of the 2006-07 season and the first two of 2007-08, beating Weymouth 7-0, Dagenham & Redbridge 4-2, Tamworth 1-0, Oxford 2-1 and Farsley Celtic 5-1.
The U's did not play on Easter Monday during the years 2001-2003. Since then they have now won three and lost four times with no draws, the other two victories being last term's 2-1 win at Kettering and the aforementioned beasting of Dagenham & Redbridge.
Player Ratings
Brown 6. Good handling throughout but will not be happy at the nature of Mansfield's second goal.
McAuley 7. Another reliable and confident shift from Mr Versatile.
Partridge 5. Mr Ling's persistence in playing this square peg in a round hole at left-back, despite his obvious unsuitability and the presence of two perfectly adequate specialists in the squad, is one of the mysteries of the season, and he was found out today in no uncertain terms. No more, please.
Saah 7. Solid effort, although he was foolish to let Perry wind him up to the extent that THAT penalty was awarded at the end.
Coulson 8. Excellent again.
Neilson 7. Lively and dangerous until sacrificed after the dismissal of Partridge.
Carden 7. Much more like it from the skipper, influential and energetic.
Reason 7. Puffing a bit towards the end, but a decent performance although his set pieces are still not consistently delivered.
Russell 8. Twinkle-toed menace who got through some excellent work out on the left.
Crow 7. Industrious as ever and cannot complain about one goal and one assist.
Phillips 6. A welcome second goal of the season, even if it was a tap-in, and he worked his socks off, but his future must still be in the balance.
Palmer 7. Showed us what a proper left-back looks like in a reliable half-hour.
Murray 5. Only on for a couple of minutes.
Match Summary
United bounced back from a slipshod week to show that they haven't mentally hit the beach just yet, with a gutsy and spirited win despite playing the last half an hour with ten men. Keep the flip-flops in the bottom of the wardrobe for a few more weeks yet, boys, then you will be able to say you earned it.
Man of the Match
Josh Coulson. Proved Ling was wrong to drop him with a commanding defensive display capped with a second goal inside a month.
Ref Watch
Burt 5. Too easily fooled by the acrobatic antics of the Mansfield players, and the last penalty was just bizarre.
Out of the Mouths of Babes
"I was sitting next to Rachel Martin and Joanne Barrett. As soon as the game started Rachel started shouting as loud as she could, '2-4-6-8 who do we appreciate?' Eventually Rachel got on everybody's nerves so Joanne asked Mr Cubbin if Rachel could be moved, but it wasn't allowed so we all had to suffer. Everybody in our row left the football ground with a headache." (Deborah Raynor)
Soundtrack of the Day
Hot Chip "I Feel Better"Andrew's previous match reports
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